Parents,
Avoid this mistake; do not think of martial arts, BJJ or judo, Karate as a way of people watching your children, child care and so on, but a way to build up an Adult with solid values and ethics. Being a black belt should be everyone’s goal.
“A Black belt is the white belt who never quitted”.
Do you know the main martial arts we teach at Sampa?
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Wrestling and Kickboxing.
Do you know that Jigoro Kano the man who created Judo from Jiu Jitsu, made judo an obligation in every school in Japan as a way to educate the children of his country. Physically, mentally and philosophically.
“Jigoro Kano (28 October 1860 – 4 May 1938) was the founder of judo. Judo was the first Japanese martial art to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official Olympic sport. Pedagogical innovations attributed to Kanō include the use of black and white belts, and the introduction of dan ranking to show the relative ranking between members of a martial art style.
In his professional life, Kano was an educator. Important postings included serving as director of primary education for the Ministry of Education (Monbushō?) from 1898–1901, and as president of Tokyo Higher Normal School from 1901 until 1920. He played a key role in making judo and kendo part of the Japanese public school programs of the 1910s.
Kano was also a pioneer of international sports. Accomplishments included being the first Asian member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) (he served from 1909 until 1938); officially representing Japan at most Olympic Games held between 1912 and 1936; and serving as a leading spokesman for Japan’s bid for the 1940 Olympic Games.” Extracted from Wikipedia.
Do you know that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is now part of public school programs in the united Arabic emirates?
“The Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Schools initiative, named “School-Jitsu“, began in 2008. School-Jitsu and aimed to teach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for students from 9 to 13 years as part of the curriculum. The program has since expanded to 42 government schools, with 81 Brazilian coaches brought in as instructors. The plan is for up to 500 schools to be participating in the School-Jitsu program by 2015. The project was set up by special request of HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan who is a keen Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor. The program launched in 14 schools for pupils in grades 6 and 7 and has since expanded to 42 government schools, with 81 Brazilian coaches brought in as instructors.” Extracted from Wikipedia.
So, many countries see the importance of having a martial arts as part as the school curriculum, In United States it is very common to find wrestling in the schools which in my point of view is a great art although the physical performance is many times the main objective.
Unfortunately not many schools offer wrestling and when they offer that does not guarantee a great quality of instruction as well.
It is true that martial arts can help our children in many aspects of life, building hard work ethics, self esteem, confidence, social skills, culture and morals.
That is why many countries are adding good martial arts as part of school program to make sure every children had the same opportunity.
In United States we do not have this available in the schools but we do have the highest quality of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo offered privately by small businesses.
After join a Judo or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school what comes next? In my point of view is that we all suppose to aim for the highest accomplishment which is the Black belt, unfortunately many martial arts places became so commercial and they sell black belt but this is another discussion.
What many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo Instructors are facing lately is that many parents pull out their children from the academy right after the realized that their child is fixed. For example a parent bring a child to a BJJ academy because he/she is too shy, low self esteem, bad coordination and so on, In a few weeks they will notice a difference in their child behave and after some months or a year they do not see shyness, low self esteem, poor coordination anymore and what do they do? They pull out their children from what fixed them and now start putting them in seasonal sports, for a lot of reasons but one specifically is very sad: because everyone is doing, to follow the mass!
So you are setting up your child for failure, you are teaching your child on how to quit and stop things before its end and plus teaching your child to be a follower not a leader by just following the crowd and being part of average.
Exactly the opposite of a decent Martial Art Instructor will be teaching.
Become a Black belt is the ultimate goal!